Museum as Hub

Hub Notes: Relational, Ancient Chinese scrolls, 3/04/08

It is always a pleasure for me when contemporary things are put into historical context. Today, Sherry Masters, from Rockland County, elegantly related the Museum as Hub initiative to its ancient Chinese counterpart. She explained that the Chinese painted onto scrolls for its relational function. The extra paper (that rolled out) was used for documenting the conversations that took place while looking at the painting. Apparently no matter what the content of the conversation, be it politics, a game, the weather, it was seen to make up the lexicon of the work. The documented text also accrued multiple dialects, bequeathed through generations and across countries. Some of the texts are too old to decipher their meanings, but the signature stamps that mark each conversation are able to reveal its origins and authors. Utilizing the interactivity of art, visual and discursive observation processes, internationalism, and multiple languages certainly recall the Museum as Hub project.

I later learned that Sherry Masters was part of a group of five women from upstate New York and New Jersey who get together once a month to “art-hop.” Each month, someone chooses and researches an exhibit taking place in New York City that they are interested in, and leads the rest of the group for the day, very informally. It seems like a great way to maintain a relationship to the flux of city culture and have fun with friends.

-Lena Imamura